The Catalogue

Find more photos of it here in my shop

I wonder how many little boy hours have been spent in boredom while mom looked through the pattern catalogue? My sweetheart certainly has vivid memories of doing so.

There was something so magic about that catalogue when I began to sew. It was the book of infinite possibilities. You could sew a dress to look exactly like the one in the book, or go off on your own and create something unique.

I had three of these catalogues that I got in a big batch of patterns I bought and they were very hard for me to put in my shop. One is gone and two are still left for someone lucky. This one is perhaps the hardest for me to sell as it is one that I remember looking at. I can point out dresses I made, dresses my mom made and dresses I remember others wearing.

Sometimes you may start with a piece of fabric and go looking for a pattern to make up. But for me, the most fun is to start with the pattern and then go find some wonderful fabric to make out of it. 

Even though we have the Internet today, I still see women poring over the catalogues in fabric stores. There's no better way to find a pattern. And it's best if the store is not busy so that you can have three or four books (Simplicity, McCall's, Butterick, Vogue) all open at the same time while you're looking for that perfect one.